{"id":"01KG2TSH37ABYAEE9DK31SY3PF","cid":"bafkreia6rhqs6f6ikyltwdz5hkbx3f3pse4objz2sux5myc3x2yrbq555u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7165,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.222Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","start_line":7094,"text":"CHAPTER XXIX\r\n\r\n\r\nThe first thing Tom heard on Friday morning was a glad piece of\r\nnews—Judge Thatcher’s family had come back to town the night before.\r\nBoth Injun Joe and the treasure sunk into secondary importance for a\r\nmoment, and Becky took the chief place in the boy’s interest. He saw her\r\nand they had an exhausting good time playing “hispy” and “gully-keeper”\r\n with a crowd of their schoolmates. The day was completed and crowned in\r\na peculiarly satisfactory way: Becky teased her mother to appoint\r\nthe next day for the long-promised and long-delayed picnic, and she\r\nconsented. The child’s delight was boundless; and Tom’s not more\r\nmoderate. The invitations were sent out before sunset, and straightway\r\nthe young folks of the village were thrown into a fever of preparation\r\nand pleasurable anticipation. Tom’s excitement enabled him to keep\r\nawake until a pretty late hour, and he had good hopes of hearing Huck’s\r\n“maow,” and of having his treasure to astonish Becky and the picnickers\r\nwith, next day; but he was disappointed. No signal came that night.\r\n\r\nMorning came, eventually, and by ten or eleven o’clock a giddy and\r\nrollicking company were gathered at Judge Thatcher’s, and everything was\r\nready for a start. It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the\r\npicnics with their presence. The children were considered safe enough\r\nunder the wings of a few young ladies of eighteen and a few young\r\ngentlemen of twenty-three or thereabouts. The old steam ferry-boat was\r\nchartered for the occasion; presently the gay throng filed up the main\r\nstreet laden with provision-baskets. Sid was sick and had to miss\r\nthe fun; Mary remained at home to entertain him. The last thing Mrs.\r\nThatcher said to Becky, was:\r\n\r\n“You’ll not get back till late. Perhaps you’d better stay all night with\r\nsome of the girls that live near the ferry-landing, child.”\r\n\r\n“Then I’ll stay with Susy Harper, mamma.”\r\n\r\n“Very well. And mind and behave yourself and don’t be any trouble.”\r\n\r\nPresently, as they tripped along, Tom said to Becky:\r\n\r\n“Say—I’ll tell you what we’ll do. ’Stead of going to Joe Harper’s we’ll\r\nclimb right up the hill and stop at the Widow Douglas’. She’ll have\r\nice-cream! She has it most every day—dead loads of it. And she’ll be\r\nawful glad to have us.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, that will be fun!”\r\n\r\nThen Becky reflected a moment and said:\r\n\r\n“But what will mamma say?”\r\n\r\n“How’ll she ever know?”\r\n\r\nThe girl turned the idea over in her mind, and said reluctantly:\r\n\r\n“I reckon it’s wrong—but—”\r\n\r\n“But shucks! Your mother won’t know, and so what’s the harm? All she\r\nwants is that you’ll be safe; and I bet you she’d ’a’ said go there if\r\nshe’d ’a’ thought of it. I know she would!”\r\n\r\nThe Widow Douglas’ splendid hospitality was a tempting bait. It and\r\nTom’s persuasions presently carried the day. So it was decided to say\r\nnothing to anybody about the night’s programme. Presently it occurred to\r\nTom that maybe Huck might come this very night and give the signal. The\r\nthought took a deal of the spirit out of his anticipations. Still he\r\ncould not bear to give up the fun at Widow Douglas’. And why should he\r\ngive it up, he reasoned—the signal did not come the night before, so\r\nwhy should it be any more likely to come tonight? The sure fun of the\r\nevening outweighed the uncertain treasure; and, boy-like, he determined\r\nto yield to the stronger inclination and not allow himself to think of\r\nthe box of money another time that day.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG2TRB94G7SZYKWA552CCM9X","peer_label":"CHAPTER XXIX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","peer_label":"tom_sawyer.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_label":"Test Collection","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG2TSH59Z145C2NZBCKFERTZ","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.854Z","ts":"2026-01-28T17:35:35.707Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}